Atlanta's Hollywood Cemetery (and the connecting Magnolia Cemetery) has fallen on hard times. Largely abandoned by the families of those buried there in the 1960s and horribly neglected by the managing company this blog's purpose is to let the descendants of those buried at Hollywood Cemetery and other interested parties connect to take future action.

Friday, May 29, 2009

The Lincoln Cemetery office, which is located 2275 Simpson Rd NW Atlanta, GA 30314, phone number (404) 792-2220, says that Hollywood Road Cemetery is most transversable from Thanksgiving to Easter. Only in that time frame will they guide people to their family's plot.

I think that's a good rule for us to follow. So our first Hollywood Road Cemetery Clean Up Day is scheduled for Saturday, December 6th, 2009. It's early enough in the Christmas season that everyone shouldn't be crazy busy, but still warm enough so that we don't freeze!

Wear old clothes and gloves. I also like to wear rubber fishing or rainboots while I'm in Hollywood...just in case. For those of you who have been nervous about going there alone, this will be a great chance to go when lots of people will be about.

If you are planning to make this your first trip to Hollywood Cemetery, please call the office to get your family's plot information. I'll bring copies of maps.

If you don't have family at Hollywood but would like to come anyway, please do! We need people to help clear the paths.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Around the web many people have started gathering information and documenting Hollywood Cemetery.

Credit must go to Judy K. Brantley/Wilson, who has done a yeoman's job posting Hollywood burials at findagrave.com. 3,498 names have been posted so far. Without Judy, I doubt I would have figured out I had family buried there as quickly as I did. She's performed an amazing service, and is leaving a record future genealogists and historians will be very grateful for.

Larry Felton Johnson photographed parts of Hollywood Cemetery in 2007 and his blog posting has served as a meeting ground for several of us.

This article from 2002 in the Atlanta Jewish Times does a fantastic job explaining how Hollywood Cemetery devolved into its current state, the ineptitude of the current owners, and why the state of Georgia can't do anything about it. The article discusses how parts of the land have been sold off over the years (for taxes) and one parcel sold contained graves. Lovely.

Hello. Like many other Atlanta born and breds I have family buried at Hollywood Cemetery (as well as Magnolia). However, that knowledge had fallen from family lore with the passage of years and I only recently discovered that one set of great-great-grandparents, two sets of great-great-great-grandparents, and various aunts and uncles are buried at Hollywood Cemetery.

Many of us are floating around the edges of genealogy and graving websites, attempting to figure out just what to do next. It is a daunting prospect. I used to teach in the area, and knew that Hollywood Cemetery was bad, but had no idea just how bad it was until I visited recently (and ran into a couple trying to locate their family's graves). Bad doesn't begin to describe it. Horrific is a much more appropriate adjective. Trash, reforestation, abandoned road ways, fallen monuments abound. Vegetation has grown so think that stairs and walls are completely covered. And sadly, you can make out that the landscaper was probably genius, because you can still make it out how he terraced a very large hill into workable plots and roads. Someone spent a lot of time and money designing Hollywood Cemetery originally, and there are some beautiful examples of headstones to be found still. Actually, I have a feeling that the forestation might have saved the headstones from vandalism, just because it is so difficult to access much of the cemetery.

There are three cemeteries on Hollywood Road that are connected. If you drive down Hollywood from Hollowell (which used to be known as Bankhead Highway) you will first see a well maintained cemetery on a hill on your right. That is Monte Vista. On your left is a terraced cemetery with the first few rows in acceptable condition and the back rows reverting to forest. That is part of Hollywood Cemetery. On your right is a forest with a set of stairs. Look closely. There is a sign that says "Non-Perpetual Care". Yeah, no joke! Next you will see a road on your right, turn there to enter Hollywood Cemetery. If you stay straight on Hollywood Road you will next see a flat cemetery, level with the road, where the grass is at least cut. That is Magnolia. Magnolia has suffered from vandalism and neglect over the years (I can't find my great-grandmother Mary Camp Mooney's headstone, although my grandmother clearly remembers her having one), but is in better condition.

All three of these cemeteries are "operated" by Lincoln Cemetery. Monte Vista is a perpetual care cemetery where they still sell plots and hold burials.